


but all i see among these blossom pink lights is you

by nanasbyulie



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Amusement Park, Bakery, Broken Hearts, Cute, Fluff, M/M, Markwoo, Minor Huang Ren Jun/Lee Donghyuck | Haechan, Minor Kim Jungwoo/Mark Lee (NCT), Minor Lee Jeno/Na Jaemin, Shopping, bakery cafe, chenle gets stood up, date, jisung is heartbroken, jisung is intrigued and kind hearted, kiss, nomin, offers to spend the day with chenle instead, outfit, renhyuck, valentines day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-15
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-03-14 08:07:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,459
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29415360
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nanasbyulie/pseuds/nanasbyulie
Summary: When Chenle gets stood up by his date in the bakery on Valentine's Day, his coworker Jisung offers to help cheer him up by granting Chenle three wishes for the day. Only Chenle ends up falling for the lonely but kind hearted boy instead.
Relationships: Park Jisung/Zhong Chen Le
Comments: 11
Kudos: 90





	but all i see among these blossom pink lights is you

Three years ago on Valentine's Day, Jisung got a softly muttered, pink scented confession that sent his head spinning and his heart threatening to pop out of his chest.

Two years ago on Valentine's Day, they'd taken a romantic trip down to Jeju — the photographs still sit in one of the albums Jisung has in his storage. Bright smiles and false hopes of a future where they'd always be together.

Last year on Valentine's Day, Jisung had asked the person he'd assumed to be the love of his life to move in with him.

This year, Jisung's left to deal with the debris of his shattered relationship and the pang of loneliness that _almost_ makes him want to skip out on work. Jaemin's more than ready to let him have his shift off.

"I mean it, Jisungie," Jaemin says on the phone, and Jisung can hear him rushing around in the kitchen, murmuring profanities under his breath when something goes wrong, "I can take your shift if it's too much for you to come in today."

Jisung chuckles, turning on his shower to let the water heat up and stepping back outside to his room. He keeps his hands occupied, fluttering around _doing things_ to keep his mind from wondering. One task as a time, razor sharp focus. "I don't want to deal with the aftermath of Jeno hyung finding out I made you take my shift on Valentine's Day, of all days. Besides, I mean it hyung, I'm okay. My brain will be more occupied working than sitting alone at home anyways."

"I'll deal with Jeno if that's your concern. He's not a tough nut to crack, one home cooked meal and cuddles are enough to make him come around," Jaemin says, and then adds, albeit reluctantly, "But if you're sure, come in. Tell me if you change your mind anytime, yeah?"

"Thanks, hyung." Jisung says, before cutting the call and stepping into the shower. The warm water feels nice on his back, and he lets his taut muscles loosen. He doesn't think he missed _him_ particularly. Their breakup, while undoubtedly messy, was necessary. Jisung thinks he deserves better after all the effort he was willing to put into that relationship, and he doesn't miss feeling inadequate and tired all the time. What he does miss is the emotions and the determinism in his life. As unwilling as he is to admit it, he does feel a little bit lost. Being so used to a person for almost a three years can do that to you. It suddenly feels like the earth keeps spinning, the people keep moving on, and you're stuck in a place, unable to move, unable to change, unable to go back. Even so, Jisung's a realist. He anchors to the real world, he anchors to understanding an accepting his emotions, and then moving on if he can't revel in them.

Right now, the real world needs him to get to work, regardless of whether his heart wishes for him to wallow in in self pity. And so that's what he does.

━━━༻❁༺━━━

Jaemin's onto him the instant he steps foot into the kitchen. "Jisungie!" He barely manages to duck out of the oncoming embrace, laughing when Jaemin pouts. "You're covered in flour, hyung, and I'm wearing dark clothes."

"Oh," Jaemin says, nodding, choosing instead to ruffle Jisung's hair instead, "Your shift doesn't start for a while, right? I just made some cupcakes, would you like to try?"

Jisung nods with a smile. He's always surprised as to how Jaemin manages to get his work out of the way and have time to experiment with other recipes, but he's glad that he's always on the receiving end of those. Jaemin's an amazing baker.

"You'd think you'd offered him a million dollars, and not a cupcake, Jaem."

Jisung looks up at Renjun as Jaemin laughs, and sticks his tongue out. "I'd take Jaemin hyung's cupcakes over the million dollars."

"You took the compliment way too far, Jisungie," Jaemin says, pushing the cupcake in Jisung's hand. It's a pink cupcake, and for a moment he stops short, wondering how Jaemin decided to experiment with _strawberry_ , but then he smells the cherry and chuckles. Didn't experiment with strawberry after all.

"Can you give the second one to Chenle outside?" Jaemin asks, hands busy with something else again, "Poor boy's barely caught a breath all morning."

Jisung nods, waving a quick hand to both Jaemin and Renjun before stepping into the main customer area of the bakery behind the counter. Chenle does look a little bit overwhelmed as he tries to multitask between taking orders and serving, since the afternoon rush to pick up seems to have increased. Jisung steps in naturally with the boy, giving him a smile and gesturing at the display to let him know that he can take over the serving so Chenle can focus on taking orders instead. Chenle throws him a grateful smile, before turning around.

"Hello, welcome to ` _A dream so sweet`_! Hope you're having the loveliest day! What can I get you?"

Jisung smiles at the boy's enthusiasm. Of everyone that Jisung's worked with before, Chenle seems to fit into the bakery the best. He's always a sunshine, and somehow always excited to be working, smiles everywhere. Jisung's not too bad at customer facing either, he knows how to keep up his smile and be polite, but Chenle's different. His smile is never one of the retail smiles — it doesn't look like he's smiling because he _has_ to as a part of his job, but because he's just genuinely happy. Every time he says he hopes someone is having a lovely day, he means it. Jisung finds it adorable.

Snapping his attention away from the caramel haired boy, he works on plating and passing over the desserts as orders come in. They work well in tandem for another twenty minutes, and then it's quieter. Chenle leans on the counter with a sigh, his smile still playing softly on his lips. Jisung pushes one of the cherry cupcakes he'd originally set aside towards him. Chenle raises his eyebrow, and Jisung shrugs.

"Jaemin hyung tried something new, he wanted us to try it."

Chenle lights up, yelling an arbitrary "Thank you Jaemin hyung!" in the direction of the kitchen before carefully unfurling the paper around the cupcake and taking a bite. Jisung follows, taking a bite, not being able to help the smile on his face. It's a lovely cupcake. Jaemin's typical style is extremely sweet things, but he occasionally experiments with letting the ingredients shine through without allowing the sugar to overpower them. Jisung likes those kinds of desserts better.

Chenle, on the other hand, seems to be a fan of the sweeter desserts, because he pauses and then covers the cupcake with some honey before continuing to eat. He sees Jisung looking and chuckles. "You don't think I get all my energy without consuming boatloads of sugar, do you?"

"That does make sense," Jisung says with a grin, "Are you heading out in a few?"

Chenle finishes his last bite of cupcake, grabbing a napkin to brush off the crumbs from his face and then shakes his head.

"I mean," he says, and Jisung notices he's missed a crumb on his cheek, "I am getting off work, but I'm sticking around at the bakery for a while."

"Oh," Jisung says, but he's really not paying attention because he's not sure how tell Chenle that there's cupcake crumbs on his face while the boy talks.

"I just — is it weird that I called him to my workplace for a first date? What if I'm embarrassing? Then I'll be embarrassed in front of him and you all."

"I—" Jisung sighs, not being able to figure out how to say it, and instead he grabs another napkin and leans over to brush the crumbs off Chenle's face. Chenle pauses, and Jisung's cheeks immediately flare up.

"Sorry," he says, "I just — you didn't get that, and I assumed you'd want to before your date arrives."

Chenle flushes, but flashes him a bright smile. "Thank you!"

"And, for the record," Jisung adds, "I doubt you can do anything that either us or your date thinks is embarrassing. You're confident and your happiness is contagious, anything you do would be cute."

Jisung isn't quite sure where this is coming from. He doesn't deny to himself that he thinks Chenle is cute — Chenle is objectively cute, and his mannerisms make him even more so. Jisung just isn't quite sure where to confidence to say it out loud in front of Chenle himself comes from. Perhaps because he's noticed the boy sometimes feels a little bit conscious about the fact that he might be loud or too preppy, and Jisung wants him to know that that's okay. It's what makes Chenle Chenle.

Chenle smiles bashfully. "You're — thank you, Jisung. That's really nice of you to say."

Jisung shrugs. "Only stating the obvious. Let me take over from you now. Fingers crossed the evening rush is more in bakery than take out, they're usually more patient."

Chenle nods, and begins taking off his apron and badge to clock off. "Do you have any plans for Valentine's Day? Are you perhaps meeting up with someone?"

Jisung pauses. It's not on purpose. It's not like it's an out of ordinary question. He hates that he pauses. Chenle seems to notices, because he backtracks immediately.

"I'm so sorry!" he says quickly, "I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable, I jus—"

"It's fine, it's fine!" Jisung's quick to reassure him, "I just— I don't know. I went through a rough break up a couple of months ago, and it's a little surreal to me that I'm spending Valentine's alone, you know. Because I just assumed I'd be spending it with that person."

He's not sure why he's telling Chenle this. Perhaps because he wants to take the chance to also let himself go on that train of thought, and actually see it to the end.

Chenle seems to understand this. "Is it the person? Or just the feeling?"

Jisung smiles. Chenle comes off as someone who could be a little bit of an airhead, but Jisung's realized over time that he's actually really observant. Just like Jaemin, he catches on to subtle changes in mood and behaviour. "Not the person," Jisung admits, "They were a toxic presence in my life and I'm glad they're no longer a part of it. It's just weird because we'd actually made plans for this Valentine's, and now everything's changed. It's more confusing than sad."

Chenle hums in agreement. He hadn't started working at the bakery until about two months ago, meaning he hadn't witnessed Jisung breaking down the way Jaemin and Renjun had. He didn't know of Jisung's relationship, apart from the time his ex had walked into the bakery with someone new on his hand, and Chenle had witnessed first hand Renjun losing his mind and yelling at him to leave, as Jaemin held him back to keep him from throwing hands, but not making any effort to actually take back what Renjun had said. Chenle had just come over to Jisung and placed a hand on his shoulder, and that was that. They hadn't talked about the incident after,

"Well, if anything, that's all the more reason to have a non-planned out day, no? Do stuff on a whim, things that have nothing to do with what you had planned before. There's solace in knowing you're doing well even if it feels like your heart is barely holding on."

Jisung smiles. It's a nice sentiment — _Prove to myself that while I'm not okay, but I will be_.

"That does sound nice. Thanks, Chenle-yah. Your date's quite lucky."

Chenle blushes at the compliment again, and offers Jisung a bright smile as he steps out from behind the counter to the main customer seating area of the bakery, pointing at the clock. "Well, I'm officially off. I'll wait at the table and order later, yeah?"

Jisung nods. "Have fun on your date, Chenle-yah."

━━━༻❁༺━━━

Jisung is surrounded by extremely dramatic couples on Valentine's Day, and if it wasn't for the fact that he loved and each and every one of his hyungs, he would've been really annoyed. The first and obvious one is Jaemin, who manages to drop an entire tray of brownies when Jeno had turned up in the bakery donning a suit with a bouquet of a hundred roses, and confessed to Jaemin all over again in front of all the occupants of the bakery. Jisung couldn't help but smile, of course, but he was also a small bit disgusted. They'd been dating coming up to almost five years now, but they seemed to be stuck in the honeymoon phase even yet. Jaemin had started crying, and Jeno had asked if it was okay to steal him from the bakery now. Renjun had all but pushed them both out. Jaemin looked whipped, and Jeno couldn't stop smiling. It's just the fact that Jisung genuinely loves Jaemin and seeing him this happy that makes up for Jisung having to clean the aftermath of the dropped brownies.

The second encounter is much more toned down thankfully, with Mark and Jungwoo coming in only to get some pastries, smiling brightly at Jisung. "'Sungie!" Mark had said, "I missed you. We should meet up sometime."

Jisung had nodded, placing the packaged cakes in Jungwoo's outstretched hand with a "Happy Valentine's Day, lovebirds."

Jungwoo had grinned, pressing a quick kiss to Mark's cheek and they'd waved Jisung a goodbye, with Mark turning to a blushing blubbering mess.

The third, and arguably the most dramatic part of the day is when Donghyuck practically sprints to the bakery, eyes wide, the collar of his shirt ruffled and his tie hanging half done at his neck. Jisung raises his eyebrows. "I—" Donghyuck stops short, realizing the amount of eyes on him, and walks up to Jisung.

"Please tell me Renjun hasn't already gotten off work." he says. Jisung's eyes widen, but he keeps his face neutral.

"His shift gets over in twenty minutes," he admits, "Why?"

Jisung has known Renjun for two years now, but him, Donghyuck and Jaemin go way back. Jisung's practically known those two since he was born. And in that entire time, he's never seen Hyuck go pink.

"I, uh," he mutters, "I just wanted to— I promise I didn't mean to forget but, oh my god this is going to be a disaster and—"

"Hyung, _breathe_." Jisung mutters. There's no more customers in line, so he has some time to step out and sit Hyuck down on a table and sit opposite him. "Are you okay?"

Hyuck sighs. "I got caught up in work and forgot it was Valentine's Day."

"And that matters because? You aren't dating anyone. Didn't you say, and I quote, ' _No mortal can pass my standards_ '?"

"Yeah, well, I guess I was wrong?" Hyuck says, and then drops his head softly on the table in frustration, "I wanted to do something special. Get him flowers, plan a proper date, write out a poetic confession? _I don't know_. I can't believe I forgot what day it was."

Jisung slowly starts piecing it together, and his eyes widen. "Renjun hyung. You . . . and Renjun hyung?"

Hyuck looks up at him. "You . . . don't think he likes me? That's worse. Oh god, what if he doesn't like me?"

Jisung chuckles. "To be fair, Jaemin hyung and I agreed we'd never seen two people have more sexual tension than the two of you." Hyuck swats his arm.

"I know we fight a lot, but I hope he knows I've never meant to hurt him or anything. It's a reflex, okay? I might seem confident and flirty, but I'm _not_ good at flirting at people I actually have a crush on."

Jisung's lips lift in a smirk, "I can see that," and Hyuck throws him an unamused stare, "But for the record, I think Renjun hyung's the same. He's not very good at expressing feelings, so he prefers being sarcastic and dismissive. I think you should take the shot. You're both mature people, as weird as it feels to say that, and even if he doesn't return your feelings, I doubt you two won't be able to talk about it amicably. Plus, Renjun hyung doesn't like big gestures. I think he'd like a drive and a conversation about feelings more than flowers and poetry."

Donghyuck bites his bottom lip unsurely. "Are you sure?"

"I am," Jisung says, "He'll be out soon. Fix yourself up and wait outside for him and offer to take him on a drive, yeah?"

Hyuck looks dazed for a moment, before nodding. "Yeah. Yeah. That makes sense. Okay, yeah, I should do that," he says, and then smiles fondly at Jisung, "Who knew in twenty three short years, you'd grow up to give me advice, you baby?"

It's Jisung's turn to throw him an unamused stare, but he gets up and helps Hyuck fix his tie, and also gives him Renjun's favourite lemon cheesecake before sending him off to stand outside with a smile. Renjun and Hyuck, huh? Now that Jisung thinks about it, they really do make a great pair. He hopes Renjun accepts the confession.

It's then that he realizes that Chenle's still at the small corner table, looking out the window. Jisung frowns. He's been on his shift for three hours now, which means the boy has been waiting for his date to turn up for three hours now. Is his date just late? Or has he been stood up?

Jisung can't imagine anyone standing Chenle up. There's absolutely nothing about the boy that's not perfect — he's sweet, caring, happy, smart, hardworking and genuinely a wonderful human. It would be an honour to score a date with him.

Should he go up to him? Ask him if he's okay? Or maybe he's over thinking it, and Chenle's date has already said they'd be late and Chenle's just decided to wait until then?

"Hey Jisung!"

Jisung looks up as a smiley Shotaro greets him, ducking under the door of the counter and come over to the serving side of the bakery. Jisung smiles at him. "Hey Shotaro! How're you?"

"Pretty good!" Shotaro says with a smile, "I had the most lovely time with my friends at the art gallery today! Platonic dates on Valentine's Day sound counter intuitive, but they're actually great. Plus, if you pretend like a couple, you get discounts and tons of funny memories to look back on."

Jisung grins. "That does sound like a lot of fun," he says. Shotaro, after Chenle, is one of the most positive people Jisung's ever met. The difference between them is possibly that Shotaro's more the cute, innocent kind, while Chenle's much more just a radiantly happy person.

"Aren't you taking off? Your shift ends in five minutes anyways, and there's nobody in line."

Jisung looks, and Shotaro's right. There is nobody in line. "Do you think you'd need help with anything?"

Shotaro looks around, making sure everything is stocked enough, and then shakes his head. "I think we're good until closing time! Go ahead, Jisung, you've worked hard!"

"You too, Shotaro! Have a good evening!" Jisung says, taking off his apron and name tag, and slipping out of his heavy duty work shoes into a worn but arguably better looking sneakers. He pauses for a second as he's stepping out, and turns around. Shotaro raises his eyebrows at him.

"I just—" Jisung starts, and then points to the tray of sweet strawberry cupcakes in the freezer. "I'm going to steal a few of those."

They're allowed to take goodies from the bakery whenever they want, with trust placed in their judgement that they wouldn't take an unreasonable amount. Most days, Jisung doesn't take much, since he eats a lot as a result of Jaemin's experiments anyways. Today, he thinks he needs some of those just in case. Shotaro nods, quickly wrapping six in a cupcake box and passing them over to Jisung. Jisung waves him a grateful goodbye and steps out from behind the counter.

It takes him a little back and forth before he walks up to Chenle, and the boy looks up at him in surprise. "Jisung." He says. His eyes look a little lost, and Jisung's suddenly more worried.

"Hey," he says softly, "Just thought I'd — sorry, I'm not sure how to put this nicely, I'm not very good with words — I just thought I'd check up on you. You've been here a while."

Chenle looks at him, and then sighs. "I have been, haven't I?"

Jisung sees the boy's clearly upset — which is a first for him, and it knocks the breath out of his lungs. He's never seen Chenle look so down, to a point where Jisung thinks he almost assumed Chenle could ever be this upset. He suddenly doesn't know what to do.

"Did you, I mean, I just, did they—"

"I think I got stood up," Chenle says quietly, completing his thought.

Jisung looks up at him like a deer caught in headlights. That was one of the bigger possibilities that Jisung was assuming, but now that Chenle's actually confirming it, Jisung isn't quite sure what to say or do. Chenle seems to realize that, breathing out a small laugh. "You don't have to look so conflicted, Jisung. I'm really grateful that you wanted to check up on me. Sorry I'm being a downe—"

"No!" Jisung says immediately, "You don't have to apologize for feeling bad about anything, Chenle-yah. Are you — are you sure they've stood you up? Maybe they got stuck or something?"

Chenle sighs, before pulling up his phone and showing Jisung an instagram story of a man clubbing with his friends, laughing about something. "I really want to believe that, because I thought I really liked him. I have a bad feeling that accepting my date was a bet or something? He's a senior at the company where I intern, and I think a few of his friends posted stories talking about a bet and how he's so cool and someone also messaged me saying if I was ' _his intern_ '. I— I don't know. I like to believe I'm a nice person, and I didn't force him into a date either. He could've just told me he didn't want to, and I would've been perfectly nice about it. Why would he . . . am I a pushover or—"

Jisung stops Chenle before he can continue. "Absolutely not. You're a wonderful person, this is not your fault. That arse doesn't know what he's missing out on, and an angel like you shouldn't let yourself feel down for someone who doesn't understand your worth."

Chenle smiles at Jisung, his eyes watery, and Jisung's heart leaps in his chest. He isn't sure what prompted him to call Chenle an angel, but he isn't wrong. "Thank you, Jisung-ah," Chenle says, "That— that makes me feel really nice. You're right, I deserve better than this. I'm going to text him to let him know that I'm disappointed, but I'd rather we don't talk about or cross paths again."

Jisung nods, letting Chenle type out and send the message. The boy still does look heartbroken. Jisung slides the box of cupcakes towards Chenle, and he looks up in surprise. Jisung laughs. "The sweetest thing in the bakery I could find. I know you like these. Thought I could use them if you needed cheering up."

Chenle's eyes brighten a little as he grabs one, and then passed Jisung another. And while Jisung doesn't really like how sweet it is most times, he reaches out to take this time with a smile. Chenle's quiet while they finish eating the cupcakes, and Jisung wonders if he regrets sharing what happened with Jisung. Did he pry too much?

"I just—" Chenle says, pulling Jisung out of his thoughts, "I'm kind of disappointed that I wasted three hours and now I can't even enjoy Valentine's Day."

Jisung remembers how excited Chenle sounded when he told Jisung he had a date, how worried he was of being embarrassing. And then, without really thinking it through, he grabs three napkins out of the napkin holder — Jaemin's switched them out so that they're pink today — and pushes them over to Chenle. The boy looks at him in question.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to cry," he says, and Jisung stops short, shaking his hands in front of him.

"No, no, I didn't mean that," Jisung says.

"Do I have something on my face, then? Oh no, is the cupcake on my face again?"

Jisung wants the ground to swallow him whole for not thinking this through. "No, that's not it either. Your face is perfect. I mean, there's nothing on it, you're good."

This pulls a smile out of the older boy, and he raises his eyebrows at Jisung, who gathers his thoughts a little. "They're . . ." he says, and he knows he's going to sound a little stupid but oh well, "They're wish tickets."

"Wish tickets?" Chenle asks, pulling the napkins closer to himself. Jisung flushes, awkwardly scratching the back of his neck.

"Yeah. For tonight. Let me make up for that arsehole. I'll grant you any three wishes you want tonight — anything you want to do. You can't let your Valentine's Day be ruined because of that arse."

Chenle stares at him for a while, and Jisung wonders if he's said anything wrong. Does Chenle not like that he's swearing? Does he not like that Jisung's cursing out his senior? Perhaps he really does like him? Oh no—

"You'd . . . you'd do that for me?" Chenle asks, eyes wide, and Jisung's brows furrow.

"What do you mean?"

"You said you weren't feeling too up for Valentine's Day today," Chenle says, "Why would you offer to do that?"

_Oh_. Jisung smiles softly at him. "You're a great guy, Chenle-yah," he says, "And I don't like that someone who was as excited about today is let down like this. I want to make you feel better. Besides, you said I should do things I didn't expect to be doing today. This is something I didn't expect to be doing, and I'd really like to. I get to cheer someone up while cheering myself up too. There's no reason for me to not offer. You don't have to take it if you don't want to of cours—"

"I'd love to," Chenle says immediately, before flushing and looking down at the napkins, "I love to take you up on that."

Jisung smiles. "Go ahead then. Make a wish."

━━━༻❁༺━━━

Chenle's first wish is to go outfit shopping.

"I wore this thinking I was going to go on a date with the sunbae," he says, flaying his hands around dramatically towards his outfit. He's wearing a simple black hoodie over light blue jeans. Jisung thinks he looks great. Chenle shakes his head.

"I know I look great," he says, "But this isn't what I actually wanted to wear. I just didn't want to throw him off by wearing something over the top, in case it makes him uncomfortable. But now that I'm not going on a date with him . . . I'd like to feel prettier, you know."

Jisung smiles. He does admit Chenle looks different in this than he does when he's at the bakery. Chenle likes wearing chicer clothes. He always looks like he could walk the runway if he wanted to.

"Do you have a place in mind you'd want to go to?"

Chenle perks up immediately, and nods aggressively. "There's this small boutique in Hongdae, just a little way down from here, and they have such _good_ clothes, Jisung! Let's go there, yeah?"

Jisung laughs at his enthusiasm and nods, letting the shorter boy lead the way. It's only a fifteen minute walk, according to Chenle, and they engage in comfortable conversation as they walk. Chenle finds all the Valentine's Day decorations pretty, and he keeps excitedly pointed them out to Jisung, who can't keep the fond smile off his face. He's not very big on aesthetics and decorations himself, but Chenle has that happy, bubbly aura around him that also makes Jisung excited, and after a while, he's also pointing out things that catch his eye to Chenle. He doesn't even realize how quickly the make it to their destination until Chenle opens the door to the boutique, and they're greeted by the woman behind the counter.

"Happy Valentine's Day! Are you two looking for couple's outfits?"

Jisung feels a blush creep up his cheek, Chenle just laughs. "Not really," he says, "I just wanted to try out some clothes, if that's okay?"

The woman nods, leading them into the shop, conversing with Chenle and asking him what kind of clothes he's looking for. Jisung lets his eyes wander over the tiny boutique. There was a time when he used to come out to boutiques like this with his ex. They'd gotten many couples outfits before, and a part of Jisung misses those trips. Now he just tends to order clothes online if he needs to.

"Jisung-ah, what do you think?"

Jisung turns around to look at Chenle, who's walking out of the boutique, and for a moment, he can't speak at all. Chenle's wearing a simple outfit. He's switched out his looser, faded blue jeans for a stiffer, well-fitted light blue jeans, distressed at the knees. He's wearing a plain black tee over it, but he's tucked it inside the jeans and put on a black-silver belt that cinches his waist. And then he's wearing a semi-formal, well-fitting black jacket on top, with negative spaced thin red stripes running vertically, and silver buttons. It's not an elaborate outfit, but he looks _so good_ in it. He also seems to have touched up on his makeup, because there's now soft glitter underneath his eyes, and a soft pink glittery lip gloss on his lips. He's taken Jisung's breath away.

"Does it look weird?" Chenle asked, "Did I go too over the to—"

"No! No, absolutely not!" Jisung says immediately, "You look positively _gorgeous_ , Chenle!"

The implication of his words hits him a second later, and he goes beet red. The woman who'd been helping out Chenle noticed, and pulls her hand up to her mouth to hide her giggles. Jisung is mortified.

Chenle though, takes his compliment very happily. "Really? That's great! Thank you, Jisung!" He then looks around, and then at Jisung, and Jisung notices his cheeks pinkening further. He probably looks like an idiot. "Do you want to try something too?" Chenle asks.

"Huh?"

"I mean," Chenle says, "This _is_ a date afterall, even though it was last minute. You look great as it is, if you don't want to, but just in case?"

_A date?_ Jisung snaps himself out of it. Of course it's a platonic date. But Chenle's right. He's not really dressed up in a good going-out outfit at all. He's just wearing a hoodie and his Adidas sweats. Besides, he had been eyeing this one flannel shirt and black ripped jeans since he'd entered the store.

"Would you— would you mind?"

Chenle shakes his head immediately. "Of course not! I'd love to see you in a different outfit too, you know. We usually just stick to similar outfits at work, I just realized we've never really seen each other more dressed up."

Jisung picks up the outfit he'd been thinking about and vanishes into the dressing room before Chenle sees his cheeks going red again.

He _does_ look good in the outfit he's chosen. Not as good as Chenle, of course, but he doesn't look half bed. He pushes his hair so that it's slightly parted in the front, revealing a bit of his forehead, and deems it a good look before stepping out. Chenle stops and stares. "You look great, Jisung!" he says loudly, and Jisung might as well turn into a tomato again. As against Jisung, who'd checked Chenle out secretly, Chenle looks him up and down unbashedly. "You pull that off so effortlessly."

"T-Thanks, Chenle-yah."

"Is that all?" The woman asks with a smile, and Chenle nods, handing her his card, "I'll for both of these, then. Can we have bags to put out current clothes in?"

Jisung steps forward to argue that he'll pay for his own, but Chenle shakes his head. "You're being nice. I'm the one who dragged you all the way here, at least let me pay. I'd been saving up for a date today anyways."

Jisung feels himself going red again — how many times? Why does he blush so easily around Chenle? — and so he just agrees without trying to fight more. The woman hands them bags to put their current clothes in, and offers to hold them until the next day, "In case you guys are planning on going to more places for your date! It'll be uncomfortable, won't it? We can hold it till tomorrow so you can come collect it later!" and Chenle happily thanks her, pulling Jisung out the door. Jisung's more focused on Chenle's fingers around his wrist to really register what happened.

Chenle looks at him once they're outside, and Jisung takes a breath to collect himself before he smiles.

"So, where to, next?"

━━━༻❁༺━━━

Chenle takes Jisung to a puppy cafe next. Jisung's never been to one, and Chenle's mouth drops when he hears that.

"You're telling me you're twenty three, and you've never been to a kitten or puppy cafe before? Park Jisung, you astound me."

"Hey!" Jisung says, defensively, "I just— I knew they existed, I just didn't have a chance to go with someone. I don't like going to cafes alone, and most of the times my friends just come over to the bakery."

"Hmm," Chenle says, "You've been hanging out with the wrong crowd, Park Jisung. Puppy cafes are a serotonin boost personified. This one's even special, because they take in homeless puppies and take care of them. They also allow people to adopt them, they have a contract with a neighbouring pet agency. I got my puppy Daegal from them too!"

Jisung's eyes widen. "You have a puppy?"

Chenle grins. "I do! She's such a sweetheart. Wait," he says, and then pulls out his phone. Jisung notices his camera roll and laughs. His camera roll is dedicated almost entirely to a tiny while cloud of a dog. "This is Daegal, she's my child!" Chenle says.

"She's adorable!" Jisung says. And then, mentally, _just like her father_.

"You should come over sometime. She loves meeting new people and playing with them."

Jisung tries his hardest not to think too much about how easily Chenle says come over. They're friends, sure. But their interactions before today were limited to the bakery, and they've never just hung out without Jaemin and Renjun at the bakery either. Jisung can't believe he isn't bothered how easily Chenle feels closer to him today, even though Jisung takes so long to open up to people. He lets it slide.

Chenle's face brightens up the second they come into the cafe, and a flurry of dogs run up to him excitedly. Jisung smiles. "I'm assuming you come here often?"

Chenle laughs, now sitting down in the volley of puppies, getting licked left and right, "You can say that."

Five minutes later, they're sitting in a corner booth waiting for their milkshakes — oreo for Chenle, mango for Jisung — talking about their lives outside of the bakery.

"So you want to go in full time?" Jisung asks Chenle when he talks about his internship, and Chenle nods, "I'm hoping by the end of the internship, my performance is enough for them to want me full time."

"You're really impressive, Chenle-yah," Jisung says, "Handling two jobs at once is no joke."

"Talk about yourself!" Chenle exclaims, "At least one of my job involves me sitting and working. You're a _dancer_ , you must be really healthy for you to stay on your feet at your shifts in the bakery and then practice and perform for hours. That's so impressive."

"I guess. I _adore_ dancing, I always have. It's not a stable career, I know. You get paid during competitions, or as background dancers, but work is not consistent. But I love it so much, it makes everything work it. Besides, I also like working at the bakery, it's peaceful, predictable, and nice. I don't know. I don't have a lot of expectations from life, I'm genuinely happy with what I have and where I am."

"That — that's lovely to hear, Jisung. Most people don't talk as passionately about what they do at our age. Most people are not happy and content with their life at our age. It's so refreshing and wonderful to hear your perspective. You inspire me."

Jisung flushes. "I— thank you, Chenle-yah. I don't know. I've never really been the competitive type, I don't like the fast paced world. I'm happy in my little bubble with the people I know and love, and things I love doing."

Chenle smiles sweetly, and Jisung feels his heart skip a beat at how genuine that smile is. The fact that Chenle just sits and listens to what Jisung has to say, and the fact that he doesn't say "You should want more from life" like most other people but instead says Jisung's inspiring — it almost makes him cry. He's grateful for the milkshakes placed in front of them so he can hide his flushes face and takes a sip. He and Chenle spend quite some time there, playing with the puppies ('Jisung, look at this one! He looks just like you, oh my god that's _so cute_!'), having random, comfortable conversations, and laughing at stories from the past. Jisung thinks it's more Chenle cheering him up than the other way around.

"So," he says after he's finished his milkshake, just as Chenle takes a big gulp and then promptly finds himself having a brain freeze. Jisung reaches forward in concern as Chenle winces, but then Chenle's laughing and the Jisung's also laughing.

"So," Chenle says, repeating what Jisung said as an urge for him to continue.

"What do you have planned for your final wish?"

Chenle smiles.

━━━༻❁༺━━━

"Tada!" Chenle says, finally taking his hands off of Jisung's eyes. The boy had been adamant on not telling Jisung the location of the last place because he wanted it to be a surprise. Jisung stares.

"An amusement park," he says slowly.

"Yeah!" Chenle says excitably, "I know, I know, it's super cliche and like everyone goes to amusement parks on Valentine's Days but that doesn't mean the cliche isn't cute. And there's fireworks in an hour and I love watching fireworks! Plus, this also gives us options based on what rides we like— Jisung?"

Jisung realizes he's gone very quiet, and very still as Chenle talks. Chenle looks at him concerned. "Did I— Did I do something wrong? Did I say something wrong?"

Jisung snaps himself out of his daze and shakes his head. He pulls his lips in a smile, and he hopes it doesn't look strained. "No, no, you didn't Chenle! Let's go."

He starts to saunter forward, but Chenle's fingers wrap around his wrist, and he softly pulls Jisung back until they're facing each other.

"I know something's wrong, Jisung-ah," Chenle says sincerely, "Tell me. I'll hear."

Jisung sighs, not meeting Chenle's eyes. "This amusement park," he says, "This was where my ex and I had planned to come for our date on Valentine's Day."

He sneaks a look at the older boy, and Chenle's eyes have widened. "Jisung-ah, I'm _so_ sorry. I don't want you to be uncomfortable, in the slightest, yeah? Let's just go."

Chenle starts turning around, but this time Jisung grabs his wrist to keep him from doing that. "No, no, it's okay." he says, running his tongue over his dry lips before speaking again, "This— this will be good for me. Because I just realized there's a difference. This isn't according to plan. Because I'm not here with him, I'm here with _you_. I want to be here with you. I like amusement parks, so do you. I want to go."

Chenle's looking at him, listening to his every word. "Are you sure?"

Jisung gives him a genuine smile. He does mean it. He's not here with his ex. He's here with Chenle. Sweet, happy, genuine Chenle. The one who listened to him talk about his dreams and aspirations and said he inspired him. The one who told him about his own dreams and aspirations. The one who's been smiling so happily and sincerely at Jisung all evening. Who's been making Jisung so, so happy all evening. He wants to go to the amusement park. With Chenle. "I'm sure."

Chenle's lips pull up in a bright smile, and he threads his fingers with Jisung and pulls him forward. Jisung's breath catches in his throat as he lets the boy lead him to the ticketing booth. _He's holding hands with me_ , Jisung thinks. And then, _I don't mind it_. He doesn't mind it at all.

The amusement park is a lot of fun. Jisung can't help but laugh every time Chenle screeches in joy. "My friends tell me I sound like a dolphin. I've resorted to taking that as a compliment now."

"It is a compliment," Jisung insists, "You sound really happy." Jisung stays away from the harsher rides ('I don't sound as cute as you do when I yell, Chenle-yah. Do not make me go on the rollercoaster, I might actually throw up.'), and instead takes pictures of Chenle whenever he gets on them. He looks breathtaking in all of them, Jisung thinks. Chenle's also adamant about taking a lot of selcas wherever they go, until most of Jisung's camera roll is their selcas ('You really should take more selcas, Jisung, you're _so handsome_. Wait, why're you so red? Is it too hot here? It's the middle of February, though? Are you too cold? No? You sure?')

Then, Chenle drags him over to the open grounds, where a lot of other people have gathered. "The fireworks!" he says, excitedly, "They start in a minute." Jisung smiles at how excited Chenle is, and in the rush of the moment, brings his phone up and snaps a picture of the boy. His camera is in the portrait mode, and it looks like Chenle, with his pretty smile and shining eyes, is in the middle of several blurry pink lights. He looks so soft and pretty, and Jisung melts. Chenle notices, and asks to see the photo.

"That's — that's such a pretty picture, Jisung," Chenle says, eyes shining.

"It is. _You_ are." Jisung murmurs. Chenle hears him regardless, and looks up at his, bright eyes trained on Jisung's wavering ones.

"I'm so glad I came here with you today," he says, sounding so, _so_ sincere, "You make me so happy, Park Jisung. I don't think I've ever had a date where I've been happier."

Jisung flushes. "Me too," he says, honestly, "I enjoyed every moment of today so much, Chenle-yah. I—"

He takes a breath. He doesn't know how he's admitted it to himself, and now he's admitting it to Chenle too. But he wants to. His heart is soaring. "If you'd allow me, I'd like to take you out on more of these."

Chenle's eyes widen. "Dates? Really?"

Jisung nods shyly, and Chenle's smile widens. "I— I would really like that, Jisung-ah. Really, _really_ like that."

Jisung looks up, and he notices how close they are. He can see the fireworks that have already started in Chenle's eyes. And he can't look away.

Chenle's the one who brings his arm up to cup Jisung's cheek. "I want to make you happy, Park Jisung," he says, "I want to make up for anything you went through before, and show you that you deserve to be loved. I want to make you realize how amazing you are."

Jisung smiles, hands slowly wrapping around Chenle's waist, eyes sparkling. Chenle bites his lip. "Can I?" He asks. Jisung nods.

And then Chenle's leaning forward and closing the gap between them, just as another volley of fireworks erupt in the sky, and a volley of butterflies erupt in Jisung's stomach, and he thinks, _I can get used to this. I want to get used to this. To us._

And at this moment, and he's sure with the many moments that will follow, he's well and truly happy.

━━━༻ T H E ❁ E N D ༺━━━

**Author's Note:**

> Got a prompt from au prompt generator that said "Jisung takes Chenle out for Valentine's Day to cheer him up after his original plans with someone else fell through. As Jisung tries his best to make Chenle happy and succeeds in only a few attempt, Chenle realizes he would've rather been with Jisung after all" and . . . yeah here it is I guess.
> 
> (The characters are slightly aged up to fit the narrative better!)
> 
> This work can be retweeted [here](https://twitter.com/nanasbyulie/status/1361133478432104449).
> 
> Please do consider leaving kudos / comments if you like what I wrote because it makes me really, really happy 🥺


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